System and method for management of an automatic OLAP report broadcast system

ABSTRACT

A system, method and processor medium that manages automatic generation of output from an on-line analytical processing (OLAP) system. Scheduled services are processed in an OLAP system and output from the OLAP system is then automatically forwarded to one or more subscriber output devices specified for that service. The system manages the operation of the service processing system to increase throughput, increase speed, and improve administrator control over the processing. The system enables administrator control over processing by enabling administrators to view all services and all subscribers of the system, by maintaining an address book containing entries for subscribers of the service, and by scheduling processing of services. The system governs the volume of services being processed, the number of subscribers to a particular service, and the number of output devices to which a service may be broadcast.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/029,004, filed Feb. 11, 2008 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,321,411 onNov. 27, 2012), which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/339,579, filed Jan. 10, 2003 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,330,847on Feb. 12, 2008), which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/345,440, filed Jul. 1, 1999 (issued as U.S. Pat. No.6,567,796 on May 20, 2003), which claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 60/126,055, filed Mar. 23, 1999.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a system and method for managing automaticbroadcasting of information derived from on-line analytical processingsystem reports to subscriber devices, including electronic mail,personal digital assistants, pagers, facsimiles, printers, mobilephones, and telephones, based on subscriber-specified criteria.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The ability to act quickly and decisively in today's increasinglycompetitive marketplace is critical to the success of any organization.The volume of data that is available to organizations is rapidlyincreasing and frequently overwhelming. The availability of largevolumes of data presents various challenges. One challenge is to avoidinundating an individual with unnecessary information. Another challengeis to ensure all relevant information is available in a timely manner.

One known approach to addressing these and other challenges is known asdata warehousing. Data warehouses, relational databases, and data martsare becoming important elements of many information delivery systemsbecause they provide a central location where a reconciled version ofdata extracted from a wide variety of operational systems may be stored.As used herein, a data warehouse should be understood to be aninformational database that stores shareable data from one or moreoperational databases of record, such as one or more transaction-baseddatabase systems. A data warehouse typically allows users to tap into abusiness's vast store of operational data to track and respond tobusiness trends that facilitate forecasting and planning efforts. A datamart may be considered to be a type of data warehouse that focuses on aparticular business segment.

Decision support systems have been developed to efficiently retrieveselected information from data warehouses. One type of decision supportsystem is known as an on-line analytical processing system (“OLAP”). Ingeneral, OLAP systems analyze the data from a number of differentperspectives and support complex analyses against large input data sets.

There are at least three different types of OLAP architectures—ROLAP,MOLAP, and HOLAP. ROLAP (“Relational On-Line Analytical Processing”)systems are systems that use a dynamic server connected to a relationaldatabase system. Multidimensional OLAP (“MOLAP”) utilizes a proprietarymultidimensional database (“MDDB”) to provide OLAP analyses. The mainpremise of this architecture is that data must be storedmultidimensionally to be viewed multidimensionally. A HOLAP (“HybridOn-Line Analytical Processing”) system is a hybrid of these two.

ROLAP is a three-tier, client/server architecture comprising apresentation tier, an application logic tier and a relational databasetier. The relational database tier stores data and connects to theapplication logic tier. The application logic tier comprises a ROLAPengine that executes multidimensional reports from multiple end users.The ROLAP engine integrates with a variety of presentation layers,through which users perform OLAP analyses. The presentation layersenable users to provide requests to the ROLAP engine. The premise ofROLAP is that OLAP capabilities are best provided directly against arelational database, e.g., the data warehouse.

In a ROLAP system, data from transaction-processing systems is loadedinto a defined data model in the data warehouse. Database routines arerun to aggregate the data, if required by the data model. Indices arethen created to optimize query access times. End users submitmultidimensional analyses to the ROLAP engine, which then dynamicallytransforms the requests into SQL execution plans. The SQL is submittedto the relational database for processing, the relational query resultsare cross-tabulated, and a multidimensional result set is returned tothe end user. ROLAP is a fully dynamic architecture capable of utilizingpre-calculated results when they are available, or dynamicallygenerating results from atomic information when necessary.

The ROLAP architecture directly accesses data from data warehouses, andtherefore supports optimization techniques to meet batch windowrequirements and to provide fast response times. These optimizationtechniques typically include application-level table partitioning,aggregate inferencing, denormalization support, and multiple fact tablejoins.

MOLAP is a two-tier, client/server architecture. In this architecture,the MDDB serves as both the database layer and the application logiclayer. In the database layer, the MDDB system is responsible for alldata storage, access, and retrieval processes. In the application logiclayer, the MDDB is responsible for the execution of all OLAP requests.The presentation layer integrates with the application logic layer andprovides an interface through which the end users view and request OLAPanalyses. The client/server architecture allows multiple users to accessthe multidimensional database.

Information from a variety of transaction-processing systems is loadedinto the MDDB System through a series of batch routines. Once thisatomic data has been loaded into the MDDB, the general approach is toperform a series of batch calculations to aggregate along the orthogonaldimensions and fill the MDDB array structures. For example, revenuefigures for all of the stores in a state would be added together to fillthe state level cells in the database. After the array structure in thedatabase has been filled, indices are created and hashing algorithms areused to improve query access times.

Once this compilation process has been completed, the MDDB is ready foruse. Users request OLAP reports through the presentation layer, and theapplication logic layer of the MDDB retrieves the stored data.

The MOLAP architecture is a compilation-intensive architecture. Itprincipally reads the pre-compiled data, and has limited capabilities todynamically create aggregations or to calculate business metrics thathave not been pre-calculated and stored.

The hybrid OLAP (“HOLAP”) solution is a mix of MOLAP and relationalarchitectures that support inquiries against summary and transactiondata in an integrated fashion. The HOLAP approach enables a user toperform multidimensional analysis on data in the MDDB. However, if theuser reaches the bottom of the multidimensional hierarchy and requiresmore detailed data, the HOLAP engine generates an SQL to retrieve thedetailed data from the source relational database management system(“RDBMS”) and returns it to the end user. HOLAP implementations rely onsimple SQL statements to pull large quantities of data into themid-tier, multidimensional engine for processing. This constrains therange of inquiry and returns large, unrefined result sets that canoverwhelm networks with limited bandwidth.

As described above, each of these types of OLAP systems are typicallyclient-server systems. The OLAP engine resides on the server side and amodule is typically provided at a client-side to enable users to inputqueries and report requests to the OLAP engine. Current client-sidemodules are typically stand alone software modules that are loaded onclient-side computer systems. One drawback of such systems is that auser must learn how to operate the client-side software module in orderto initiate queries and generate reports.

Although various user interfaces have been developed to enable users toaccess the content of data warehouses through server systems, many suchsystems experience significant drawbacks. All of these systems requirethat the user connect via a computer system to the server system toinitiate reports and view the contents of the reports.

Moreover, current systems require that the user initiate a request for areport each time the user desires to have that report generated. Aparticular user may desire to run a particular report frequently todetermine the status of the report.

Further, reports may be extensive and may contain a large amount ofinformation for a user to sort through each time a report is run. Aparticular user may only be interested in knowing if a particular valueor set of values in the report has changed over a predetermined periodof time. Current systems require the user to initiate the new report andthen scan through the new report to determine if the information haschanged over the time period specified.

These and other drawbacks exist with current OLAP interface systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to overcome these and other drawbacks inexisting systems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system thatmanages and controls the automatic broadcast of messages to subscribersbased on criteria established by the subscriber when those criteria aredetermined to be satisfied by an on-line analytical processing system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a subscriber-basedsystem for automatic broadcast of OLAP reports that enables a systemadministrator to monitor performance and output of the system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a subscriber-basedsystem for automatic broadcast of OLAP reports that enables a systemadministrator to view subscribers to various services of the system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a subscriber-basedsystem for automatic broadcast of OLAP reports that enables a systemadministrator to manage the scheduling of services to output reports.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a subscriber-basedsystem for automatic broadcast of OLAP reports that stores an addressbook for subscribers of the system and enables a system administrator tomodify and maintain the address book.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a subscriber-basedsystem for automatic broadcast of OLAP reports that enables use ofdynamic recipient lists that are rendered to determine who receivesoutput from the system.

These and other objects are realized by a system and method according tothe present invention as described below. Such a system and methodcomprises a broadcast module that connects to an on-line analyticalprocessing (OLAP) system comprising a server system for accessinginformation in one or more data warehouses to perform report analysis.The broadcast module may enable the defining of a service. A “service”as used herein should be understood to include one or more reports thatare scheduled to be run against one or more data warehouses, relationaldatabases, files in a directory, information from web or file transferprotocol sites, information provided by a custom module, by a serversystem. These services may be subscribed to by users or user devices toenable the broadcast module to determine who should receive the resultsof a service. The broadcast module enables the creation of a service,the scheduling of the service, subscription of users to the definedservices, generation of reports for the service, formatting of outputsof the service and broadcasting of messages based on the output for theservice, among other functions.

Also, an administrator module may be provided that manages automaticgeneration of output from the on-line analytical processing system. Theadministrator module manages the operation of the service processingsystem to increase throughput, increase speed, and improve theadministrator control over the processing. The system may maintaindynamic recipient lists that are resolved by system. The system enablesadministrator control over processing by enabling administrators to viewall services and all subscribers of the system, by maintaining anaddress book containing entries for subscribers of the service andenabling the administrator to view the contents of the address book, andby scheduling processing of services. The system also governs the volumeof services being processed, the number of subscribers to a particularservice, and the number of output devices to which a service may bebroadcast.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system forautomatically generating output from an on-line analytical processingsystem based on scheduled services specified by subscribers of thesystem is provided. The system processes scheduled services in anon-line analytical processing system with each service comprising atleast one query to be performed by the on-line analytical processingsystem. The system then automatically forwards output from the servicesto one or more subscriber output devices specified for that service. Thesystem may also provide management of the output devices. Users maydefine new services, including the schedule of the services and thetype, such as alert services or scheduled services, and may alsosubscribe to the services provided by the system. If an alert service isprocessed, the system may forward output only when one or more alertcriteria are satisfied. Subscribers may be specified by a dynamicrecipient list that is resolved each time the service is processed todetermine recipients of the service output. A dynamic recipient list maybe, for example, a list that determines the recipients of a servicebased on dynamically resolved criteria. For example, a bank may generatea list every month that identifies customers who have an account balancegreater than $100,000 and who have not made a transaction within thelast three months. The output devices the system may forward output tomay comprise electronic mailbox, facsimile, printer, mobile phone,telephone, pager, PDA or web pages.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a system thatenables subscribers to personalize services used for automaticallygenerating output from an on-line analytical processing system isprovided. In addition to enabling subscribers to specify the content andschedule of one or more services, the system enables subscribers topersonalize various other parameters relating to the service. Forexample, subscribers may specify the format of service output, filtersto be applied to the service, and a variety of other personalizationoptions described in greater detail below.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the system utilizesstatic recipient lists (“SRL”) and dynamic recipient lists (“DRL”) fordetermining subscribers to a service. SRLs may be a list of manuallyentered subscriber names of a particular service. DRLs, however, may bea report generated by the system listing subscriber names that meet apredetermined criteria for a service. DRLs enable lists of subscribersto change according to certain criteria applied to contents of adatabase. For example, a DRL may be used to broadcast a sales report toonly those subscribers who are managers of stores who have not met apredetermined sales goal.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentto one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the detaileddescription of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a system in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a method for automatictransmission of OLAP report information.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a method for creating a serviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an overall system in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system isprovided for automatic transmission of OLAP report output to one or moreof a plurality of user output devices. FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of asystem 100 according to the present invention. System 100 may comprise adata warehouse 12, a server system 14, a broadcast module 20, an objectcreation module 24, an agent module 28, and one or more user devices 40.User devices 40 may comprise a facsimile 40 a, pager 40 b, mobiletelephone 40 c, electronic mail 40 d, and web page output 40 e.

Broadcast module 20 may comprise a module that broadcasts personalizedinformation derived from the OLAP system (e.g., data warehouse 12 andsever system 14) to users via one or more user devices 40 such aselectronic mail, PDA, facsimile, printer, pager, mobile phone,telephone, and multiple other types of user information devices.Broadcast module 20 enables users to define services (e.g., queries andreports) that are to be run against an OLAP system such as server system14 and data warehouse 12 based on a predetermined schedule. A “service”as used herein should be understood to include one or more reports thatare scheduled to be run against data warehouse 12 by server system 14.Broadcast module 20 also enables users on the system to subscribe to oneor more services and then broadcast module 20 outputs the results ofthese services to subscribers according to criteria established by thesubscribers.

Data warehouse 12 may comprise any data warehouse or data mart as isknown in the art, including a relational database management system(“RDBMS”), a multidimensional database management system (“MDDBMS”) or ahybrid system. Server system 14 may comprise an OLAP server system foraccessing and managing data stored in data warehouse 12. Server system14 may comprise a ROLAP engine, MOLAP engine or a HOLAP engine accordingto different embodiments. Specifically, server system 14 may comprise amultithreaded server for performing analysis directly against datawarehouse 12. One embodiment of server system 14 may comprise a ROLAPengine known as DSS Server™ offered by MicroStrategy. Accordingly, datawarehouse 12 and server system 14 comprise an OLAP system that connectsto broadcast module 20 for broadcast of user-specified reports from datamaintained by data warehouse 12.

Broadcast module 20 may also be connected to an agent module 28 whichmay also be connected to server system 14. Agent module 28 may beprovided to define reports and queries that may be selected as part ofone or more services by broadcast module 20. Agent module 28 may be usedto define queries to be performed against the data contained in datawarehouse 12 using components, templates, filters, reports, agents, etc.Components may include dimensions, attributes, attribute elements, andmetrics—in other words, the building blocks for templates, filters, andreports. Templates generally define a report format and specify theattributes, dimensions, metrics, and display properties comprising areport. Filters generally qualify report content and identify a subsetof data warehouse 12 to be included in a report. For example, filtersmay be used with set math, multidimensional qualifications, and metricqualifications. Using set math, users can define and embed any set oflimiting criteria (e.g., union, intersect, exclude). Multidimensionalqualifications enable users to indicate general subject areas orperspectives on data (e.g., time, geography, product). Metricqualifications may be used to compute mathematical calculations ofvarious numerical data (e.g., total sales, profit, cost, percent change,profit). Metrics may be displayed in a variety of formats (e.g.,percentages, currency, fonts indicating predetermined values). Reportsare generally understood to be a data analysis created by combining atemplate (the format) with a filter (the content). Agents may be a groupof reports cached on a time- or event-based schedule for rapid retrievaland batch processing. According to one embodiment of the invention,agent module 28 may comprise a software package known as DSS Agent™offered by MicroStrategy.

Agent module 28 may operate on any user system 26 including personalcomputers, network workstations, laptop computers or any otherelectronic device connected to server system 14 or may comprise anobject connected to broadcast module 20.

Broadcast module 20 therefore, cooperates with server system 14 andagent module 28 to send personalized information to users at predefinedintervals or when criteria specified in reports defined through eitherbroadcast module 20 or agent module 28 exceed predefined thresholds. Toprovide this functionality, broadcast module 20 enables users of thesystem to create services that run against the OLAP system to generateinformation and subscriptions that specify the recipients of theinformation derived from a service. A service may comprise one or morereports that are processed by the OLAP system and may be a specificreport, series of reports or elements within a report. Also, subscribersmay include users, groups of users or only specific user devices 40 fora particular user. Services may be based on predefined reports frombroadcast module 20 or agent module 28 or may be based onfilter/template combinations set up through broadcast module 20 and/oragent module 28.

Once services have been defined and subscribers to that services areestablished, broadcast module 20 continually monitors the schedules forthe services, runs the scheduled reports, and automatically generatesoutputs where conditions specified in the service are satisfied usingpush technology. Outputs from broadcast module 20 may be personalized tosubscriber demands and/or formatted to meet a subscriber's user devicerequirements to ensure that users see only that portion of a report thatis relative to that user and in a manner that is most useful for theuser. Accordingly, a user can thus have up-to-date information about thecontents of data warehouse 12 without having to submit a query or log-into a software module on the user system.

To provide the functionality described above, broadcast module 20 maycomprise a plurality of modules that perform certain functions. Althoughdescribed as separate modules, it should be understood that such modulesmay be combined or separated further. In an embodiment of the presentinvention, as depicted in FIG. 1, broadcast module 20 may comprise aservice definition module 42, a service schedule module 44, a servicegeneration module 46, a service format module 48, a personalizationmodule 50, a subscription interface module 52, and a serviceadministration module 54.

Service definition module 42 of broadcast module 20 may comprise amodule for enabling a user to create or modify a service. In anembodiment, the services may be defined based on reports or workbooksspecified in agent module 28. Users may then subscribe to servicesdefined in service definition module to enable broadcast module 20 todetermine who should receive the results of a service.

At least two types of services may be provided—scheduled services andalert services. A schedule service may comprise a service that generatesinformation to subscribers at a given time interval. An alert servicemay comprise a service that provides information to all subscribers ifan alert condition is true.

Service schedule module 44 may provide the functionality to enableselection of when a service should be run. Service schedule module 44may enable a user, administrator or other person having access theretoto specify the frequency that the service should be performed. Theschedule may be based on an interval (such as every several hours, days,weeks, months, years, etc.) or on one or more specified days (such asMarch 15th and September 15th). Other methods of scheduling events to beprocessed may also be used.

Service generation module 46 may comprise a module for following aschedule set by service schedule module 44 and completing the operationspecified in service definition module 42. For example, if a servicewere specified to run the monthly sales totals for the Midwest region ofa company every weekend and generate an alert to the supervisor onMonday morning if sales drop below 5%, then service generation module 46would be responsible to monitor the schedule of this service to ensurethat the report contained therein was processed over the weekend andthen generate an alert report if the criteria set in the service issatisfied. To monitor the schedule of all services specified bybroadcast module 20, service generation module 46 may operate constantlyto ensure that every scheduled service is completed.

Service format module 48 may be responsible for taking the results of aservice and formatting it to a proper format corresponding to each ofthe subscribers of a particular service. Service format module 48 may beresponsible for formatting service results for generation to userdevices 40 a-40 e.

Personalization module 50 may be provided to enable subscribers tospecify the content for a service in which they are interested. Usersmay input personalized choices for personalization module 50 throughsubscription interface module 52 by selecting personalization filtersfrom filters available in the service. Personalization module 50captures the criteria selected by the user and creates a subscriptionbased on the selected criteria which may be multidimensional based onthe data structure in the data warehouse, relational database, etc.Because personalization module 50 enables subscribers to specify thecontent of a service, this reduces the amount of data output to asubscriber by providing the subscriber with data that the subscriber isinterested in.

Personalization may also be set in an address book module maintained bybroadcast module 20. The address book may comprise an entry for eachsubscriber of any service on the system. That subscriber may defineglobal personalization filters to be applied to all services to whichthe subscriber applies rather than providing personalization on only aservice by service basis. For a chosen user, personalization may also beset on a project level basis. For example, a project may comprisemultiple reports. Each report within a project may have differentpersonalized filters applied according to user desires. Personalizationmodule 50, however, also enables subscribers to personalize the entirerather than doing so for each. For example, subscribers may assignparticular operations to be performed for each of the reports within aproject. This enables subscribers to personalize multiple reportssimultaneously.

Additionally, subscribers may personalize style parameters using, forexample, personalization module 50. Styles may be used to tailor adisplay format of a report to a particular device (e.g., pager,electronic mail, facsimile). Styles may be designed according to theneeds of each subscriber depending on the characteristics and propertiesof a recipient. For example, a user may desire to have pages generatedfrom the report sent in a particular format and may set up that formatusing styles.

Further, in the address book, the data warehouse login and password mayalso be stored to enable access to the data warehouse. Each subscribermay have multiple addresses in the address book, each address assignedto a different output device. Thereby, a subscriber may have multipleaddresses, each of which may be assigned to receive different servicesbased on different filters, etc. This provides for the ultimate incustomization for receipt of information. For example, a user may desireto get stock information via pager but sales information via e-mail. Bysetting up two separate addresses and applying different services and/orfilters, that may be accomplished according to the present invention.

Through the address book module, administrators may also be able to addsubscribers to the address book, import subscribers from otherapplications into the address book, create groups and add subscribers tothose grounds and delete or edit information, including personalizationfeatures for subscribers. This enables administrators to also determinewho all of the subscribers are and to view personalization features foreach subscriber.

Subscription interface module 52 may be provided to enable users oradministrators of the system to monitor and update subscriptions tovarious services provided by broadcast module 20. Service administrationmodule 54 may be provided to provide administrative functions to monitora queue to schedule services and to provide throughput of services toensure efficient completion of those services by broadcast module 20.

Subscription interface module 52 may be used to create a subscriber listby adding one or more subscribers to a service. Users or systemadministrators having access to broadcast module 20 may add multipletypes of subscribers to a service such as a subscriber from either astatic recipient list (SRL) (e.g., addresses and groups) or a dynamicrecipient list (DRL) (described in further detail below). Thesubscribers may be identified, for example, individually, in groups, oras dynamic subscribers in a DRL. Subscription interface module 52permits a user to specify particular criteria (e.g., filters, metrics,etc.) by accessing data warehouse 12 and providing the user with a listof available filters, metrics, etc. The user may then select thecriteria desired to be used for the service.

A SRL is a list of manually entered names of subscribers of a particularservice. The list may be entered using service administration module 54or subscription interface module 52. SRL entries may be personalizedsuch that for any service, a personalization filter (other than adefault filter) may be specified. A SRL enables differentpersonalizations to apply for a login alias as well. For example, alogin alias may be created using personalization module 50.Personalization module 50 enables subscribers to set preferred formats,arrangements, etc. for displaying service content. The login alias maybe used to determine a subscriber's preferences and generate servicecontent according to the subscriber's preferences when generatingservice content for a particular subscriber.

A DRL may be a report which returns lists of valid user names based onpredetermined criteria that are applied to the contents of a databasesuch as data warehouse 12. Providing a DRL as a report enables the DRLto incorporate any filtering criteria desired, thereby allowing a listof subscribers to be derived by an application of a filter to the datain data warehouse 12. In this manner, subscribers of a service may bealtered simply by changing the filter criteria so that different usernames are returned for the DRL. Similarly, subscription lists may bechanged by manipulating the filter without requiring interaction withservice administration module 54. Additionally, categorization of eachsubscriber may be performed in numerous ways. For example, subscribersmay be grouped via agent filters. In one specific embodiment, a DRL iscreated using DSS Agent™ offered by Microstrategy.

Service administration module 54 enables monitoring of reports (e.g.,ability to see who is using system, what reports they are generating,etc.), scheduling of reports, address book and dynamic recipient listmaintenance, subscriber management, and statistics tracking. Subscribermanagement involves enabling system administrators to review, access,and generate information about subscribers to the system through themaintenance of detailed subscriber lists including the DRL's and SRL's.This list may track information on which subscribers subscribe to whichservices and vise-versa.

The present invention provides an administration console that enablesorganizations to rapidly implement and fully administer enterprisebroadcast deployments. As briefly described above, serviceadministration module 54 may comprise the administration console.

Service administration module 54 enables monitoring of reports (e.g.,ability to see who is using system, what reports they are generating,etc.), scheduling of reports, address book and dynamic recipient listmaintenance, and subscriber management. Subscriber management involvesenabling system administrators to review, access, and generateinformation about subscribers to the system through the maintenance ofdetailed subscriber lists. This list may track information on whichsubscribers subscribe to which services and vise-versa.

According to one aspect of the present invention, service administrationmodule 54 may comprise a service queue management system that createsand presents a service queue. The service queue may comprise a listingof all services that the system is to be running within a predeterminedperiod of time (which may be modified by the user, for example, toextend from seconds to years). The service queue may comprise a list ofupcoming service initiation times for each active service. The servicequeue management system monitors the services to ensure that theyinitiate on a predefined schedule.

The service queue management module may also present this information bysubscriber to enable an administrator or a user to view the services towhich that user subscribes. This enables the administrator to gain anunderstanding of what information that user finds helpful. Theadministrator may use that information to interest the user inadditional information. The service queue may also be viewed by serviceor with all services as desired.

Further, according to one embodiment, upon selecting a service in thequeue, the system may display the specifics of the service to enable theadministrator to view the information sought in that service, thesubscribers to that service, and modify various parameters for thatservice.

Service administration module 54 may also maintain the address book anddynamic recipient lists to enable administrators to review subscriberinformation contained in those lists. The address book may contain thename and specific settings of all valid subscribers and may interactwith other address book programs for importing and exporting names.

Personalization may also be set in the address book. For a chosen user,personalization may be set for each project which is currently loaded. Apersonalization filter may be selected for the project. The datawarehouse login and password may also be stored to enable access to thedata warehouse. One or more display styles may be set up. Eachsubscriber may have multiple addresses in the address book, each addressassigned to a different output device. Thereby, a subscriber may havemultiple addresses, each of which may be assigned to receive differentservices based on different filters, etc. This provides for the ultimatein customization for receipt of information. For example, a user maydesire to get stock information via pager but sales information viae-mail. By setting up two separate addresses and applying differentservices and/or filters, that may be accomplished according to thepresent invention.

Service administration module 54 may also be responsible for governingservices to ensure that the server system does not become overloadedwith the number of services being performed and that broadcast module 20does not become overloaded with the number of messages to be broadcast.This may be performed by setting a maximum numbers of jobs that may beperformed by each of these systems, a maximum number of subscribers perservice or a maximum number of recipient user systems per service, forexample. Other governing techniques may also be used.

Further, service administration module 54 may comprise a job reductioncomponent that functions to limit the number of jobs submitted to serversystem 14. This component generates a distinct list of jobs to send toserver system 14 to satisfy all services and all personalization filtersfor all subscribers for each service. This component may removeduplicate subscribers using the report name, login identification andpersonal filter values for the subscribers to the service. For example,this module may operate as follows. First, the system may associate eachsubscriber with a login identification and a personalization filter forthat subscriber (a blank filter may be used if the user did not specifyeither a default or subscription level personalization filter).Duplicates may then be eliminated by comparing the personalizationfilters provided and grouping all subscribers requesting the samepersonalization filter together to generate a single report for thatgroup and using the login identification for those subscribers to latergenerate individual outputs for the subscribers having thatpersonalization filter from the single report.

A method 200 of operation of system 100 is provided in FIG. 3. Method200 comprises several steps for generating information to a plurality ofuser systems using “push” technology. In step 100, one or more servicesare defined by users or system administrators for broadcast module 20 tomonitor, as described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 4, suchas through service definition module 42. In step 102, subscribers foreach of these various services are provided, such as throughsubscription interface module 52. In step 104, the system monitors andprocesses services according to their defined schedules. Step 104 may beperformed by service schedule module 44, and/or service generationmodule 46, for example.

In step 106, the system determines whether an alert criteria has beenmet or if a scheduled service has been completed, such as throughservice generation module 46. If an alert criteria has not beensatisfied or a scheduled service has not completed, the system continuesto monitor and process services. If an alert condition has been met, orif a scheduled service has been completed, in step 108, the system, suchas through service generation module 46, builds the service output andthe subscription list for that particular service. Building thesubscription list for a service may involve using a recipient listresolution method. For example, a recipient list resolution (RLR) may beused to build a list of all of the subscribers to a service in step 108.This may be performed by resolving and merging all DRLs with all SRLsfor a given service. All DRLs are generated and the resulting list ismerged with the SRL. Typically, there is only one SRL (althoughadditional SRLs may be used) and none to numerous DRLs per service. Thelist that results from merging all of the DRLs and SRLs produces a listwhich consolidates all subscribers of a given service.

Next, in step 110, the system, such as through personalization module50, applies personalization filters to services that are scheduled to beoutput to the subscribers. Personalization filters may modify the outputof a service according to the subscriber's desired criteria. Thepersonalized outputs may then be formatted for the user device 40selected by the user for output. Additionally, personalization module 50may also be used to personalize the contents of one or more services asdescribed above. In step 114, broadcast module 20 broadcasts theformatted and personalized services to subscribers at user devices 40a-40 e.

As described above, step 100 defines the service or services to bemonitored by broadcast module 20. FIG. 4 depicts a method 210 accordingto one embodiment of the present invention for performing step 100.According to one embodiment, in step 116, a user may name and provide adescription of the service or services to be monitored. By providing aname and description, users may be able to uniquely identify theservices from an object browser or in a service queue.

Next, in step 118, the user selects the type for the service. Asdescribed above, at least two types of services may be provided. A firsttype, a scheduled service, is a service that is run according to apredetermined schedule and output is generated each time the service isrun. An alert service is one that is run periodically as well, however,output is only generated when certain alert criteria is satisfied. If analert service is selected by the user, the user may then specify areport or a template/filter combination upon which the alert is based.According to one embodiment, reports and template/filter combinationsmay be predefined by other objects in the system including agent module28 or object creation module 24. For example, agent module 28 such asthe DSS Agent™ offered by MicroStrategy, may be used to create anddefine reports with filters and template combinations, and to establishthe alert criteria that are to be used for an alert service.

Next, in step 120, the duration of the service is input by the user.Service duration indicates the starting and stopping dates for theservice. The start date is the base line for the scheduled calculation,while the end date indicates when the broadcast will cease to be sent.The user has the option of starting the service immediately or waitinguntil some time in the future. Various calendaring features may beprovided to enable the user to easily select these start and stop dates.For example, a calendar that specifies a date with pull-down menus thatallow the users to select a month and year may be provided according toknown methods of selecting dates in such programs as electroniccalendaring programs and scheduling programs used in other softwareproducts. One specific aid that may be provided is to provide a calendarwith a red circle indicating the present date and a blue ellipse aroundthe current numerical date in each subsequent month to more easily allowthe user to identify monthly intervals. Other methods may also be used.

Next, in step 122, the user selects the schedule for the service.According to one embodiment, predefined schedules for services may beprovided or the user may choose to customize the schedule for theservice. If the user desires to create a new schedule, a module may beopened to enable the user to name the schedule and to set the parametersfor the schedule. Schedules may be run on a several-minute, hourly,daily, monthly, semi-annual or annual basis, all depending upon whatfrequency is desired.

The next step, step 123, may be performed to enable the user to specifythe content of a service. The content of a service is the variousinformation reports and template/filter combinations that the serversystem 14 processes using the data in data warehouse 12 in order toprovide the output requested for that particular service. The content ofa service may comprise many different items or combination of items tosuit the user's needs. For example, the user may be able to include atext grid, an agent alert, a web uniform resource location (URL), aspreadsheet container, a new sheet container, a text container, a textmessage, contents from a text file, or a file attachment. According toone embodiment, the system may organize these various contents intocontainers. A broadcast container may comprise the highest levelcontainer under which all content pieces reside. A grid may comprise anelement that is associated with a report or a template/filtercombination. The grid may be bound via a macro to a report/fiber andtemplate combination. An agent alert may be associated with a particularreport that is therefore incorporated within the service. Any reportavailable on agent module 28 may be selected. The web URL item may beassociated with the report through network output module 22 thatspecified that URL for the particular report. A spreadsheet containermay be the parent of an embedded spreadsheet attachment. When created, aparticular spreadsheet may be included as a child. Additionally, markuplanguage (e.g., XML and/or HTML) documents may also be included.

After the user has named the service, selected the type, duration, andschedule for the service, the user may select the personalization typein step 124. For example, the user may select an option to eitherprevent personalization, require personalization, or allow personalizeoptionally. Upon completion of these steps, the service may be stored byservice definition module 42 in a database structure to enable users toretrieve predefined services to subscribe to these services throughsubscription interface module 52.

Method 210 may also comprise an error condition step. An error conditionstep may be used to enable users to specify “error” conditions andactions. For example, an “error” condition may be a user notificationthat a server is “down” or that there is no data to be returned. A usermay specify particular actions to be performed by the system in responseto one or more error conditions. For example, a user may specify a“server” error (e.g., not responding) and indicate a particular actionto be performed in response to a “server not responding” error (e.g.,reattempt in a predetermined time). Various other conditions and actionsmay be specified.

The system described may also comprise a portion of a larger decisionsupport system 10 as depicted in FIG. 4. System 10 may comprise a datawarehouse 12, a server system 14, an architect module 16, anadministrator module 18, a broadcast module 20, a network output module22, a plurality of user systems 26, and an object creation module 24.User systems 26 may comprise an agent module 28 as described above.

Agent module 28 may enable a user access to the contents of datawarehouse 12 to provide detailed analysis on an ad hoc basis. One of theadvantages of DSS Agent™ includes its use of a ROLAP architecture onserver system 14 and a RDBMS in data warehouse 12 to provide a morescaleable environment. Through DSS Agent™, a user can “drill down.”Drilling down allows the user to dynamically change the level of detailin a report to a lower level attribute so that the resulting reportdisplays data with a greater level of detail. For example, one can drilldown from year to month to week to day. DSS Agent™ also enables users to“drill up” to a higher level attribute. Drilling up summarizes theselected data to a higher level total. For example, one can drill fromday to week to month to year. DSS Agent™ also enables, a user to “drillwithin.” Drilling within allows a user to go to a different hierarchywithin the same dimension. Drilling within is often used to examine thecharacteristics of selected data. For example, drilling within enables auser to drill from item to color when looking at a particular retailitem such as an automobile, clothing or the like. Drilling across allowsthe user to drill to an altogether different dimension. For example, onecan drill across from a region to a month. Accordingly, through use ofagent module 28, server system 14, and data warehouse 12, drilling is apowerful tool that is easily implemented using a ROLAP architecturewhich is not as easily accessible in MOLAP.

Architect module 16 may comprise a module that enables developers tocreate and maintain data and metadata in data warehouse 12. Metadata maybe considered to be data about data, such as data element descriptions,data type descriptions, attributes/property descriptions, range/domaindescriptions, and process/method descriptions. Data and metadata storedin data warehouse 12 may thus be modified and organized by architectmodule 16. According to one embodiment of the invention, architectmodule 16 may comprise a software package known as DSS Architect™offered by MicroStrategy.

Administrator module 18 may comprise a module for facilitating thedevelopment, deployment, and management of data warehouse applicationssupporting large volumes of users over various distribution mechanisms.Administrator module 18 may comprise an object manager and a warehousemonitor. The object manager allows objects to be shared across databasesfor easy migration from development to production. The warehouse monitorprovides performance monitoring and management tools to supportthousands of users across a distributive database environment. Thewarehouse monitor collects statistics for the purpose of identifyingperformance bottlenecks, warehouse tuning, cost analysis and variousother purposes. According to one embodiment of the invention,administrator module 18 may comprise a module known as DSSAdministrator™ offered by MicroStrategy.

Server system 14 may also connect to an object creation module 24.Object creation module 24 may comprise an open object linking andembedding (“OLE”) application program interface (“API”) for customdecision support development. According to one embodiment of theinvention, object creation module 24 may comprise a software moduleknown as DSS Objects™ offered by MicroStrategy. Additionally, customapplications may interface with object creation module 24 includingDelphi, Visual Basic, and C++ programming modules.

User systems 26 may also include a report writing module 30, anexecutive module 32, and a spreadsheet module 34. Report writing module26 may comprise an OLAP report writer. Executive module 32 may comprisea module design tool for developing custom EIS applications. This moduleis a design tool for developing briefing books that provide high levelusers with a series of views that describe their business. Once created,end users can access briefing books through agent module 28 in EIS mode.Such a system is easily implemented with agent module 28 by compilingsets of analyses into dynamic pages that immediately focus users ontheir key business drivers. One embodiment of executive module 32 maycomprise software known as DSS Execuutive™ offered by Micro Strategy.

Spreadsheet module 34 may comprise an add-on to existing spreadsheetprograms or may comprise an entirely new spreadsheet program.Spreadsheet module 34 may enable reports and analyses generated fromagent module 28 to be presented in a traditional spreadsheet programformat to enable users to view results in preexisting front-endinterfaces. Spreadsheet module 34 may comprise the Microsoft Excel™spreadsheet program offered by Microsoft and/or an Excel™ Add-In programoffered by MicroStrategy.

Another module for accessing content of server system 14 may comprise anetwork output module 22. Network output module 22 enables user system26 access to server system 14 and data warehouse 12 without requiring anadditional agent module 28 to be stored on user system 26. Instead, usersystem 26 may have a user interface module 38 residing thereon. Userinterface module 38 may comprise any module that enables a user system,such as user system 26, to interface with network output module 22 overa network 36. According to one embodiment of the invention, network 36may comprise an intranet, the Internet or other developed Internet-typenetworks. Further, user interface module 38 may comprise any standardbrowser module such as Microsoft Internet Explorer™, Netscape Navigator™or other. As many user systems 26 already have a user interface module38 stored and operating thereon, network output module 22 offers theadvantage of enabling users access to server system 14 and datawarehouse 12 without learning to operate a new module such as agentmodule 28. One embodiment of network output module 22 may comprise aweb-based module called DSS Web™ offered by MicroStrategy. Accordingly,in one embodiment, a user can access server system 14 through a standardweb browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer™, or over the Internetthrough network output module 22, such as DSS Web™.

In this embodiment, network output module 22 may comprise a World WideWeb tool used in conjunction with server system 14 for allowing users todeploy data warehouse/decision support applications over the Internetusing industry standard World Wide Web browsers as a client. As aresult, a user can access the data warehouse with little or no clientmaintenance, little or no software to install, and only a small amountof additional training while still maintaining all of the capabilitiesof agent module 23. One embodiment of network output module 22 comprisesDSS Web™ offered by MicroStrategy. This embodiment provides a broadarray of options for viewing information sets, such as spreadsheet gridsand a wide variety of graphs. Through this module's reportingcapabilities, users receive key elements of a report in easilyinterpretable, plain language messages. This module also allows users to“drill” dynamically to a lower level of detail to view the underlyinginformation or to create and save new analyses. For sensitiveinformation, this module provides security plug-ins that allow the userto extend the standard security functionality with additional userauthentication routines. This module may also provide an API that allowsusers to customize, integrate, and imbed this functionality into otherapplications. For example, a data syndicator for health care informationmay utilize this module with a customized interface to sell access tohealth care information to Health Maintenance Organizations, hospitals,pharmacies, etc.

Other embodiments and uses of the invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practiceof the invention disclosed herein. The specification and examples shouldbe considered exemplary only. The scope of the invention is only limitedby the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer program product for managing automaticgeneration of output from a data repository, the computer programproduct comprising: one or more tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable storage devices; and program instructions, stored onat least one of the one or more tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable storage devices that, when executed, cause a computerto: process at least one scheduled service, the at least one scheduledservice comprising one or more reports to be run against at least onedata repository; establish a maximum number of subscriber output devicesto receive output from the at least one scheduled service; resolvedynamic recipient lists to generate a list of subscriber output devicesto receive the output from the at least one scheduled service; andautomatically forward the output to one or more subscriber outputdevices specified for the at least one scheduled service.
 2. Thecomputer program product of claim 1, wherein the program instructions,when executed, further cause a computer to: eliminate duplicate reportrequests prior to running the one or more reports against the at leastone data repository.
 3. The computer program product of claim 1, whereinthe program instructions, when executed, further cause a computer to:establish a maximum number of subscribers for the at least one scheduledservice.
 4. A system for managing automatic generation of output from adata repository, the system comprising: a processor configured toexecute computer program modules, the computer program modulescomprising: a service generation module that processes at least onescheduled service, establishes a maximum number of subscriber outputdevices to receive output from the at least one scheduled service, andresolves dynamic recipient lists to generate a list of subscriber outputdevices to receive the output from the at least one scheduled service,the at least one scheduled service comprising one or more reports to berun against at least one data repository; and a broadcast module thatautomatically forwards the output to one or more subscriber outputdevices specified for the at least one scheduled service.
 5. Acomputer-implemented method of managing automatic generation of outputfrom a data repository, the method being implemented by a computer thatincludes a physical processor, the method comprising: processing atleast one scheduled service, the at least one scheduled servicecomprising one or more reports to be run against at least one datarepository; establishing a maximum number of subscriber output devicesto receive output from the at least one scheduled service; resolvingdynamic recipient lists to generate a list of subscriber output devicesto receive the output from the at least one scheduled service; andautomatically forwarding the output to one or more subscriber outputdevices specified for the at least one scheduled service.
 6. A computerprogram product for managing automatic generation of output from a datarepository, the computer program product comprising: one or moretangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage devices; and programinstructions, stored on at least one of the one or more tangible,non-transitory computer-readable storage devices that, when executed,cause a computer to: subscribe subscribers to at least one service, theat least one service comprising one or more reports to be run against atleast one data repository; process the at least one service according toa schedule; establish a maximum number of subscriber output devices toreceive output from the at least one service; personalize the outputfrom the at least one service for subscribers; and forward the output toone or more subscriber output devices of subscribers.
 7. The computerprogram product of claim 6, wherein the program instructions, whenexecuted, further cause a computer to: resolve dynamic recipient liststo generate a list of subscriber output devices to receive output fromthe at least one service.
 8. The computer program product of claim 6,wherein the program instructions, when executed, further cause acomputer to: eliminate duplicate report requests prior to running theone or more reports against the at least one data repository.
 9. Thecomputer program product of claim 6, wherein the program instructions,when executed, further cause a computer to: establish a maximum numberof subscribers for the at least one service.
 10. A system for managingautomatic generation of output from a data repository, comprising: aprocessor configured to execute computer program modules, the computerprogram modules comprising: a subscriber interface module thatsubscribes subscribers to at least one service, the at least one servicecomprising one or more reports to be run against at least one datarepository; a service generation module that processes the at least oneservice according to a schedule, that establishes a maximum number ofsubscriber output devices to receive output from the at least oneservice, and that personalizes the output from the at least one servicefor subscribers; and a broadcast module that automatically forwards theoutput to one or more subscriber output devices of subscribers.
 11. Acomputer-implemented method of managing automatic generation of outputfrom a data repository, the method being implemented by a computer thatincludes a physical processor, the method comprising: subscribingsubscribers to at least one service, the at least one service comprisingone or more reports to be run against at least one data repository;processing the at least one service according to a schedule;establishing a maximum number of subscriber output devices to receiveoutput from the at least one service; personalizing the output from theat least one service for subscribers; and forwarding the output to oneor more subscriber output devices of subscribers.
 12. A computer programproduct for managing automatic generation of output from a datarepository, the computer program comprising: one or more tangible,non-transitory computer-readable storage devices; and programinstructions, stored on at least one of the one or more tangible,non-transitory computer-readable storage devices that, when executed,cause a computer to: create a service to be processed according to aschedule; receive from a subscriber to the service a specified outputdevice to which service output is to be delivered, and specifiedpersonalization criteria for personalizing the service output; create adata record for the subscriber, the subscriber data record including anaddress associated with the specified output device, and one or morepersonalization filters based on the specified personalization criteria;process the service according to the schedule to generate the serviceoutput, wherein the service comprises one or more reports to be runagainst at least one data repository; establish a maximum number ofsubscriber output devices to receive the service output from theservice; personalize the service output for the subscriber according tothe one or more personalization filters included in the subscriber datarecord; and forward the personalized service output to the specifiedoutput device of the subscriber.
 13. The computer program product ofclaim 12, wherein the service output comprises multiple reports and thesubscriber data record includes multiple personalization filters, andwherein the program instructions, when executed, further cause acomputer to: apply a different personalization filter to each of themultiple reports.
 14. The computer program product of claim 12, whereinthe service output comprises multiple reports, and wherein the programinstructions, when executed, further cause a computer to: apply the samepersonalization filter to each of the multiple reports.
 15. A system formanaging automatic generation of output from a data repository, thesystem comprising: a processor configured to execute computer programmodules, the computer program modules comprising: a service definitionmodule that creates a service to be processed according to a schedule; aservice generation module that processes the service according to theschedule to generate service output and that establishes a maximumnumber of subscriber output devices to receive the service output fromthe service, wherein the service comprises one or more reports to be runagainst at least one data repository; a subscription interface modulethat receives from a subscriber to the service a specified output deviceto which the service output is to be delivered, and specifiedpersonalization criteria for personalizing the service output; apersonalization module that creates a data record for the subscriber,the subscriber data record including an address associated with thespecified output device, and one or more personalization filters basedon the specified personalization criteria; and a broadcast module thatforwards the service output to the specified output device of thesubscriber, wherein the forwarded service output is personalized for thesubscriber according to the one or more personalization filters includedin the subscriber data record.
 16. A computer-implemented method ofmanaging automatic generation of output from a data repository, themethod being implemented by a computer that includes a physicalprocessor, the method comprising: creating a service to be processedaccording to a schedule; receiving from a subscriber to the service aspecified output device to which service output is to be delivered, andspecified personalization criteria for personalizing the service output;creating a data record for the subscriber, the subscriber data recordincluding an address associated with the specified output device, andone or more personalization filters based on the specifiedpersonalization criteria; processing the service according to theschedule to generate the service output, wherein the service comprisesone or more reports to be run against at least one data repository;establishing a maximum number of subscriber output devices to receivethe service output from the service; personalizing the service outputfor the subscriber according to the one or more personalization filtersincluded in the subscriber data record; and forwarding the personalizedservice output to the specified output device of the subscriber.